Ostrožská Lhota, Zlín, Czech Republic

Ostrožská Lhota is located in an area with a rich settlement history that dates back to the early Stone Age. The rural economy has been and continues to be dominated by agriculture and small businesses.

The village‘s weaknesses include its peripheral location, low competitiveness of agriculture, erosion, unfavorable population development, insufficient municipal land resources relative to development needs, limited transportation connections, and restricted opportunities for hosting tourists. However, its strengths lie in the social, cultural, and sports activities offered by 23 associations, a diverse and harmonious village landscape, two museums, its location on a pilgrimage route, cooperation within the microregion of Ostrožsko-Veselsko, which consists of nine municipalities, and with other more distant Czech and Slovak villages and municipalities. The fact that the church and school, largely built and maintained by the residents themselves, can be preserved within the community is also of great importance. Communication tools such as local radio, social networks, and a local newspaper are utilized. The municipality creates targeted incentives for those interested in moving to the area and supports entrepreneurship: development areas have been designated, and the necessary infrastructures and financial support programs have been prepared.

The municipality has a development strategy and a spatial development plan with the clear medium- and long-term goal of improving the quality of life in both socio-economic and ecological terms. In recent years, problems with water supply, wastewater treatment, and municipal waste collection have been resolved, and transportation links have been significantly improved. As a result of these efforts, the number of businesses and jobs is gradually increasing, and local services have been secured: the village now has grocery stores, flower shops, hardware stores, confectioneries, inns, and more. Overall, it is increasingly successful in establishing itself as an attractive place to live and work, especially for the younger generation, and in making Ostrožská Lhota, according to its own motto, a place full of life.

Ecologically responsible actions and environmental protection were defined as priority concerns in the municipality of Ostrožská Lhota at the beginning of its development process. The 2009 spatial planning and development plan set the goal of innovative waste management, including waste separation and minimization. To conserve resources, cooperation with two neighboring municipalities was established.

What is standard in many regions of Europe is by no means a given in the region where Ostrožská Lhota is located: waste separation, waste collection centers, and recycling yards. Accompanied by intensive awareness-raising and education within the population on the importance of waste separation, recycling, and reuse, an intermunicipal waste collection center was established in 2014. An additional “Re-Use Recycling Exchange“, with digital recording and processing, is already in the project phase.

The positive impacts are clearly visible: countless illegal, visually unattractive, and ecologically problematic dumpsites have disappeared. Public awareness of environmental and climate issues has increased significantly, which is also reflected in the community‘s volunteer engagement in further climate protection measures, such as planting trees and shrubs, creating biotopes and biodiversity areas, and establishing a beekeeping education center.

The municipality of Ostrožská Lhota has a building that has undergone several uses since its construction in the 19th century: initially as a distillery, then as a sports hall, and most recently as the headquarters of the local gardening association, which was gradually falling into disrepair. With a high degree of citizen participation, this historic building was renovated by the gardening association, expanded by the municipality, and eventually converted into a museum. The museum documents the history of the village, first mentioned in documents from the 14th century, through various epochs and themes, using countless archaeological objects and artifacts dating back to around 38,000 BC.

The museum is unique for a municipality of this size, not least because a significant portion of the exhibits comes from private collections of archaeologically and historically interested locals, and it was established in cooperation with academic centers. The museum is operated voluntarily by members of the “Society of Friends of History“, who have also meticulously cataloged all the artifacts. The creation of the museum, which is not the only one in the
municipality, has succeeded not only in preserving the knowledge of Ostrožská Lhota‘s historical heritage for future generations but also in creating a place of identification of the highest value for the residents.

Evaluated: 2024